Highlights: •It is telling that one of the very first decisions taken after the crisis eruptedin full force in September 2008 was to reform international governance bycreating the G20. Yet the relationship between the financial crisis and globalgovernance is not entirely straightforward.•The G20 is a significantly less suitable forum for discussion of regulatorymatters than of macroeconomic issues and their implications for theinstitutions of global governance.•Most of the regulatory issues to be solved are the responsibility of thenarrow group of countries with sophisticated financial systems. While it issensible to involve developing and emerging countries in the reform of financial regulation, they are unlikely to play a leading role.•The macroeconomic dimension of the global agenda was largely overlookedby the November G20 meeting but its main tenets have since then emerged.On these, and on reform of international financial institutions, there can beno meaningful discussion without emerging and developing countries.•If significant enough, reform of international financial institutions,especially of the International Monetary Fund, could help contain instability.The US and Europe must make the first move.